Director Derek Cianfrance repeats the success of his realistic family drama Blue Valentine (2010) with his follow-up film: The Place Beyond the Pines (2012). Cianfrance directs The Place Beyond the Pines with an eye for peaceful natural shots and intimate revealing close-ups of his actors for genuine performances.

Cianfrance follows the indie director ethos of actually allowing his actors to breathe and act naturally amongst their castmates. Cianfrance steps back to give his actors a space with communicate with the audience so beautifully. His direction is striking, while simultaneously emotionally harrowing. Cianfrance understands the human drama has to feel real in order for the crime elements to hit his audience. I found the look of The Place Beyond the Pines to resemble a realistic version of reality, while giving this fictional story verisimilitude.

The narrative structure of The Place Beyond the Pines is intriguing as it creates its own history by delving into the lives of a few key characters over 15 years. It’s all parallels between fathers and sons, while asking us the virtue of crime.Two men commit crimes of different natures, on different sides of the law, for different reasons, but both have to deal with their consequences. Their sons repeat or differ accordingly with fascinating choices. I think the real parable is that we all get a choice what to do with our lives. The key is to know when and how to do the right thing.

Cianfrance’s script is brilliant and clever with intertwined narratives and grounded dialogue. I never felt like any character would never say his or her lines. Cianfrance’s expertise is in realistic dialogue and natural storytelling, in how he lets his stories play out how they might in real life, rather than aggrandizing them beyond into standard movie fare. His themes of family, fate, justice, and fatherhood are all strung together into one harp of discord within The Place Beyond the Pines.

The Place Beyond the Pines features a score from Mike Patton. His quiet and pretty score accompanies The Place Beyond the Pines beautifully. I was never distracted by the music, but it certainly added some nice ambiance and atmosphere to each scene. Patton is more understated than ever before in his compositions for The Place Beyond the Pines and he works wonders for the film.

Next, The Place Beyond the Pines boasts a massive cast of incredible talent. Foremost, Ryan Gosling leads as Luke, the carnival driver turned criminal outlaw with an honest intentions and an ill advised trajectory. Gosling is really cool and commanding whenever he is on screen. His presence is palpable. All the tattoos, Metallica shirt, tough stance, soft words, anxious yells, real motivations, and gentle attitude make his character a truly complicated figure. Gosling is a master of nuanced acting and Cianfrance got another classic performance out of him just like Blue Valentine.

Then, there is Bradley Cooper. I honestly think that Cooper gives his most genuine and sincerely greatest performance of his acting career in The Place Beyond the Pines. He only appears about a third of the way into the film, but you will never forget his portrayal of a guilty conscious, negligent parenting, corrupt police work, lying to a district attorney, and facing up to his shame. Cooper delivers a complex character that hits on many of the movie’s themes.

Similarly, the supporting cast of The Place Beyond the Pines is excellent as well. Eva Mendes is so emotional and sympathetic, while you empathize with Rose Byrne and feel she is realistic as a cop’s wife. Both supporting ladies are lovely, but their real charm in The Place Beyond the Pines is their gripping depiction of women devastated by tragedy and the decisions of the men they once loved.

Likewise, I must mention the treasure trove of supporting actors. Mahershala Ali gives a nice performance a poignant father figure years before his triumphant portrayal in Moonlight. Ben Mendelsohn delivers a grisly and gritty turn as a dirty character actor with a gravelly American accent. Ray Liotta is a corrupt cop that harks back to how intimidating and believable Liotta was in Goodfellas. Bruce Greenwood and Harris Yulin bring a sense of respect and authority to their possibly shady government figures. I have to commend Emory Cohen for depicting such an unlikable spawn of Bradley Cooper. They do look alike, but Cohen loses the casual charm of Cooper in favor of a brutal high school bully persona that is someone to be reckoned with when you least expect him.

Lastly, I am perhaps most impressed by Dane DeHaan’s very prominent and subtle role as Ryan Gosling’s son Jason. The Place Beyond the Pines contains DeHaan’s best acting thus far. He is compassionate and thoughtful with a reserved icy glare that he lessens as his emotions flair. DeHaan has the potential to ascend to a great actor if he picks better roles than Tulip Fever or Valerian. I hope he can rekindle the magic he conjured in The Place Beyond with Pines with more dramatic and independent roles in the near future. Before long, Dane DeHaan will hopefully be appreciated for his convincing and moving portrayal in The Place Beyond the Pines.

I need say no more. The Place Beyond the Pines is an exhilarating and touching film from Derek Cianfrance. He is a director I will continue to watch for after his fantastic films Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines really got me.

My rating is more of a 4.5.
Thanks for reading in advance!

𝑴𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒏.
𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕.

The Place Beyond the Pines is a 2012 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by Derek Cianfrance, and written by Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, and Darius Marder. The film tells three linear stories: Luke (Ryan Gosling), a motorcycle stunt rider who supports his family through a life of crime, Avery (Bradley Cooper), an ambitious policeman who confronts his corrupt police department, and lastly, two troubled teenagers (Emory Cohen and Dane DeHaan) who explore the aftermath of Luke and Avery fifteen years later.

The success of this film undoubtedly rests on the shoulders of its starring actors - and, boy, are they capable of heavy lifting. Despite the variances in screen time, each one - both new and seasoned - delivers devastatingly weighted performances; the scales are tipped in their favor (as is appropriate to the storyline) without easily inserted melodrama or vapidly included contention. For the audience this does one of two things: it makes the pain of its subjects devastatingly palpable (at times my heart was stressfully racing in anticipation for the reveal of what choices would be made) and makes its characters worthy of emotional investment that is beyond compare.

Told in a linear fashion, ‘TPBTP’ has a viscosity to it that avoids convolution and makes it extremely easy to follow. It's professionally woven exposition acts as an incubator for conflict - it would be accurate to say that it practically and theoretically writes itself. Regardless, there is a glaring lack of desperation that is worth mentioning as this requires some viewers to make inferences they may otherwise not be prepared for or willing to consider; a lack of much-needed Insight regarding alternative decisions individuals could make within the overarching context of their existence negates the implication that its characters have no other choice or any sense of true autonomy. There is much to be said here in regards to destiny and the influence of legacy - but these messages transfer inadequately on screen and depend solely on how its viewers feel about concepts such as fate and predestination.

Some suggest that ‘TPBTP’ has significant pacing related issues - and it would be a lie if I said there is no truth to this sentiment. That said, the payoff of sitting through moments lacking in excitement is worth the cost of being temporarily unamused. Cianfrance avoids the temptation of polarizing his characters into camps of “right” or “wrong” or “good” or “evil” . Alternatively, they are revealed as having more in common with one another than originally expected or assumed. As a result of this its characters are forced to explore the consequences of living a life that is cushioned by privilege or faltered by chance. This complexity - at times overwhelming and yet ambitiously commendable - makes ‘TPBTP’ a loosely bound tribute to generational trauma and the ferocity of reconciliation.

On the surface ‘TPBTP’ meanders as a simplistic rendering of the ways in which children can be unexpectedly and exponentially affected by the sins and reputations left behind by paternal figures long after their most immediate period of influence. On the contrary, it is a heart-breaking and gripping account regarding confronting where (or, rather who) you come from without compromising your potential for growth, self-preservation, and capacity for redemption.
I would recommend!
(Probably my favorite ‘First watch’ of 2021 so far!)

All star cast and very engaging.Was sad to watch now that Ray Liotta has passed but none the less,awesome movie!

Place Beyond The Pines was an excellent human drama sowing together three stories in unexpected ways. First there’s Luke (Ryan Gosling) who tries to support his newborn son Jason (Dane DeHaan) that he just found out he had with his ex-girlfriend Romina (Eva Mendes). When he can’t pay the bills he turns to crime. That’s when he runs into Officer Avery (Bradley Cooper). He is dealing with his corrupt department and eventually runs for District Attorney. Later he has a son named A.J. (Emory Cohen) who goes to school with Jason that brings everything together. The interlocking stories were about personal and moral struggles and the legacies of the main characters upon their children. It’s hard to go into the movie more without spoiling it, but this is a fantastic story of people, their lives, the problems they run into and how they deal with them. There are tragedies and twists and turns that make it very engaging.
C

'The Place Beyond The Pines' is the Indian word for Schenectady, NY, where the film takes place. This film has three story lines, and it is not until you are in the midst of the film that realization sets in.

Ryan Gosling stars as Luke, a motorcycle stunt-rider who returns to town and finds he has a baby son, born after a one-night stand. Eva Mendes is his girlfriend and their chemistry sizzles. She understands he is not the steady man she yearns for. But, Luke wants to try and be the father he always wanted. Unfortunately, things don't always work out like you wish they would.

In the second part we meet Bradley Cooper, who plays Avery, a rookie cop. He becomes a hero within his department , and then faces the first real test of his career. He also has a son, but is unable to be the father he wishes. His career advances until he is running for the State Attorney General.

The third part occurs fifteen years later, when Luke and Avery's sons become friends at high school. Avery's son is a druggie, and Luke's son seems to be looking for himself. Neither does the right thing.

The three cycles of this film are not centered. There seems to be a big hole. The first story with Luke is the most fulfilling, anything after Ryan Gosling is a let down. The second cycle is important but drags, and we can guess the result. The third cycle for me was redundant and not needed. Gosling stole the show, and I can't help but wonder if he had to sit everyday while those tattoos were drawn onto his body. The film as a whole is excellent, but at 140 minutes much too long.

Recommended. prisrob 08-09-13

Although the director clearly had an ambitious goal for this film and attempted to make a memorable film, I was disappointed at the result.

What worked? As many reviewers have noted, Ryan Gosling did a superb job in the first hour of the film in the scenes in which he was present. His character evolution was surprisingly believable, and Ben Mendelsohn's character, Robin, was also well sketched. I like the way Eva Mendes and her live-in partner Kofi interacted. They were also believable. This had the seeds of a very good, memorable film.

In my judgment, the Director tried to stuff too much into the film. Part 2, which portrayed the moral dilemma presented to rookie hero cop, Avery, played by Bradley Cooper, as a result of police corruption, was a poor rendering of the same theme much better explored in Prince of the City or, even earlier, Serpico. What the film left unanswered was how other police officers treated Avery when he became an informant about corruption in the police department.

Part 3 is introduced solely as "15 Years Later." We do not get enough development of the story or its character to understand why Avery and his wife have separated and why they have raised such an obviously dysfunctional teenager. We could accept where these teenagers were in their lives if the film started there, but it did not seem to have a straight line from the previous two parts.

The chance meeting of the sons of the Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper characters and the action taken by Jason, Luke's (the Ryan Gosling character) son late in the film seem contrived.

As a filmmaker who struggled to get distribution and financing for the first version of a film, I was told that less is more. Focusing on fewer themes and developing them in more depth actually gives the filmmaker to usher in the ancillary themes with more subtlety and power. The makers of this film would have done better if they had been given this kind of feedback and heeded it. In this case, more ended up being less.

I struggle giving this movie only a 2 star rating, yet in the end, I had to be true to myself and the movie industry. The result, the movie simply wasn't worthy of more than two stars, however, the reason for this decision may surprise you.

The problem with the movie was that it felt as though the movie was actually over, about half way through watching the film. It was hard to differentiate rather or not I was watching the same movie, despite some of the original characters still being present....

The movie starts off like any other action suspense, minus of course the explosions and death. That being said, just about the time the movie grabs your attention and pulls you in, you find yourself thinking it is quickly over and perhaps more time has passed in real life than perhaps you had realized.

The main character quickly dies just as the movie gets rolling really good, which was confusing and surprising all on its own. Then before I realized what was going on, the story was continuing, only now it had a completely different plot all together. Believe me, I am not exaggerating when I say that the movie had a completely different plot... not a plot twist, but an actual different plot and different direction entirely. Allow me to reiterate... this wasn't a sub-plot, it wasn't a side-plot, it wasn't even a redirection with two different, but merging story lines. This was like someone had switched the channels when I wasn't paying attention, and when I came back, there was a different movie playing which had some of the same characters.

To be completely descriptive, I truly, and literally had to pause the movie to check the name of the movie just to be certain that it wasn't a different movie. - That's no joke either. the film seemed like a Quentin Tarantino movie, only more horribly constructed as if Quentin Tarantino himself didn't actually work on the movie.

The ONLY reason I found myself willing to award this film a 2 star rating, is that though the movie seemed badly botched with a horrible editing job, both sections of the movie (both movies?) were actually well done, and rewarding to watch. Had they actually been two separate movies, they both had enough of a plot to stand on their own, and probably would have faired much better anyway.

PROS: An amazing all star cast, two excellent story lines and original film concepts.
CONS: Horribly constructed, lazy writing, lazy production and bad, bad editing.

Overall, I give this film a 2 out of 5 stars

This is a case of director Derek Cianfrance trumping screenwriter Cianfrance. This is not a bad story just one stretched past its natural length. Its themes are obvious and its outcome is apparent way before the film is over. Credit Cianfrance for making watchable relatively thin material and even making it somewhat interesting. The primary theme of the film is that events in life come full circle. Luke(Ryan Gosling) is a stunt cyclist on the carnival circuit when he finds out he has a child from a past tryst. Without two dimes to rub together he is encouraged to take up bank robbing. The first few jobs go smashingly but Luke doesn't know when to stop. Because his first few capers went down easily he gets sloppy on his next one. The bank is ready for him and the result is a high speed chase with the police in pursuit. His main pursuer is a rookie patrolman on a corrupt police force, Avery(Bradley Cooper), who has a wife and newborn. Ultimately it comes down to a faceoff between Luke and Avery in a house where Luke is holed up. I try to avoid spoilers but I think you can read between the lines as to where this film is going. Regardless, I liked it and the performances are all terrific. Cianfrance is definitely a talent to watch. Its just a shame that this film doesn't rise to the level of his ambitions.